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From a large family of limited means and education, Matthews quit high school in Amesbury after his senior season of football in 1956 and served three years in the U.S. Marine Corps.[1] He returned home and earned his high school diploma and then on the advice of a teacher, ventured west in 1960 as a 21-year-old freshman to Moscow, Idaho. He walked-on at Idaho as a linebacker on the freshman team;[2] he was awarded a scholarship by varsity head coach Skip Stahley after his first semester. He earned three letters and was a team captain in his senior season of 1963, when the Vandals, in their second year under Dee Andros, achieved their first winning season in a quarter century.[3] Matthews graduated from the University of Idaho with a degree in education in 1964.[1][4][5]

Matthews was a graduate assistant for the Vandals in Moscow for the 1964 season under Andros and freshman coach Bud Riley.[6] Matthews then coached high school football in Ely, Nevada for four years and won a state title. He relocated to Spokane, Washington in 1969 as head coach at Ferris, where he led the Saxons to the city title in his second and final year.[7] Matthews became a collegiate assistant coach back at his alma mater in 1971 as offensive line coach (later as offensive coordinator), under second-year head coach Don Robbins.[4] After an 0-2 start, the Vandals finished at 8-3 in 1971, which included an eight-game winning streak, and won the Big Sky title. At the time it was the best record in school history, and three seniors were selected in the 1972 NFL Draft. Two years later, Robbins was fired following the 1973 season and Matthews moved to the Portland area. He took over a winless program at Sunset High School in Beaverton, Oregon, and won consecutive state championships in 1975 and 1976, going undefeated in his third and final year.[1] He left Sunset after the 1976 season to become a CFL assistant coach in Edmonton, Alberta.

Don Matthews returned to Toronto on September 9, 2008 as the interim coach for the Argonauts, after they started the season with a 4–6 record.[10] In that press conference, Matthews revealed that the major health reason that caused him to step down as head coach of the Alouettes was an anxiety disorder. He also went further to say that he had been prescribed to some medication and the anxiety attacks are now under control.[11][12]

Matthews' mother, Ida, was a francophone from Tracadie, New Brunswick, while his father, Fred, was from Prince Edward Island. Matthews has three sons and six grandchildren. In 2004, Matthews became a Canadian citizen.[13]

On October 31, 2008, he resigned from the Argonauts a day after the conclusion of the Argonauts 2008 regular season, which saw the Argos fail to win a game in the eight games under his leadership and finishing out of the playoffs for the first time since the 2001 CFL season.[14]